Four Tar Heels Selected in NBA Draft Lottery

June 28, 2005

Led by second overall pick Marvin Williams, four University of North Carolina men's basketball players were selected in the first 14 picks of the first round of Tuesday night's 2005 NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. All four Tar Heel first-rounders were lottery picks and early entries into the draft.

Carolina becomes just the second school in NCAA history to have four players chosen in the first round of a single draft, joining Duke in 1999.

UNC has had 35 players chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft all-time. The Tar Heels' 24 first-round picks since 1980 lead the nation.

Freshman forward Marvin Williams was the second pick of the draft, going to Atlanta after Milwaukee selected Utah's Andrew Bogut with the first overall selection. The Charlotte Bobcats chose junior Raymond Felton with the fifth overall pick and fellow junior Sean May with the 13th overall pick. Classmate Rashad McCants went to the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 14th pick.

Carolina's four first-round picks are its most ever in the same year. The school never had more than two first-round picks in the same draft prior to Tuesday night.

Tuesday night marked the first time since 2001 that Carolina has had multiple first-round picks. UNC has had multiple first-round NBA picks in the same year eight times: 1977 (Walter Davis and Tommy LaGarde), 1984 (Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins), 1987 (Kenny Smith and Joe Wolf), 1991 (Rick Fox and Pete Chilcutt), 1995 (Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace), 1998 (Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter), 2001 (Brendan Haywood and Joseph Forte) and 2005 (Marvin Williams, Felton, May and McCants).

Tar Heel NBA Draft Notes:

This is the fourth time Carolina has had two players selected in the top five picks. Those years include 1984 (Michael Jordan #3 and Sam Perkins #4), 1995 (Jerry Stackhouse #3 and Rasheed Wallace #4) and 1998 (Antawn Jamison #4 and Vince Carter #5).

This is the fourth time three players were selected from one school in the first 13 picks and the first time one school had four players in the "lottery."

Marvin Williams at #2 is the highest Carolina selection since Brad Daugherty was selected #1 in the 1986 Draft.

Raymond Felton at #5 and Sean May at #13 mark the first time two Tar Heels have been selected in the first round by the same team (Charlotte Bobcats).

Williams is the first Tar Heel selected by the Atlanta Hawks since Al Wood was the fourth overall pick in the first round in 1981.

Rashad McCants is the first Tar Heel ever selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Carolina has now had 35 first-round picks, including 24 in the last 25 years. No other school has had more than 19 first-rounders in the last 25 years (Duke has 19, Michigan and Kentucky are next with 14). In fact, Carolina has had 15 first-rounders in the last 15 years.

Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Rashad McCants pose before the start of the 2005 NBA Draft.

Players Mentioned

Raymond Felton

Joseph Forte

Brendan Haywood

Sean May

Rashad McCants

Marvin Williams

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